11/15/05
Day 2 – Our first work day and what a day it was! We started the day off with devotions from Gerry A. and it was the perfect way to start this day. Gerry talked about the passages in Isaiah 6 and 40 where Isaiah is saying “here I am Lord, send me” and how if we go in the Lords strength rather than our own we can “run and not grow weary.”

We were given a job in East New Orleans in or near the St. Bernard Parrish and told if we finished early we could either come back for more work or just drive around and offer to help anyone we came across. We went to help Miss Betty, an older lady whose daughter and son-in-law were there to help. We were only supposed to remove furniture, but the house had gotten four feet of water and was pretty much wiped out. When we arrived Miss Betty (all of the older women in the South are called “Miss”) was pretty stressed and Brian Jeansonne (the Kenner Vineyard assistant pastor) told us that she had already called the church five times asking when someone would be coming. As we got into it we could see her start to relax and she was thrilled when we found some mementos and even more so when we found her husband’s wedding ring. He had passed away several years ago so this was really important to her.

Towards the end of the job Gerry and I asked the son-in-law (Robbie) how he was doing personally through all of this. He told us how it was pretty tough because he had lost his house and his job, and even his car that had been saved had been vandalized. He and his wife were staying with other relatives on their sleeper sofa and they were getting tired of it. I could tell that both Gerry and I were taking turns silently praying for Robbie as he quickly moved through the different stages of grief. He would be detached and then grow agitated and angry. He would be sitting down and calm and then stand up and raise his voice and then sit back down again. He told us how he “used to watch disasters on the news and think “those poor people” and now the biggest disaster in U.S. history had gone right through my own backyard.” He told us how he felt like Job losing everything and how he even now had rash sores all over his body that the doctors couldn’t explain. We told him that we would pray for him before we left and Gerry told him that if he wanted to come to Idaho we would even help him there.

As we finished talking with Robbie the ladies called us to come out front to pray together. We all joined hands and prayed for the people there. As we prayed Miss Betty who had been so stressed when we arrived just kept smiling! Then she started to pray and thank God for us and then to pray for our safety and well being. At that point I lost it and started to cry thinking how these people had lost nearly everything and yet still had the grace to pray for us! It was so amazing what the Lord was doing on our very first day here. We told all of them that we would continue to pray for them even after we returned home.

We finished by 1:30 p.m. and decided to take Brian’s advice and drive around the neighborhoods to see if we could find anyone else that needed help. I asked for suggestions on where to go and someone would say “turn right” and someone else would say “take the next left.” We saw a woman ahead loading a ladder into her SUV and asked her if she wanted some “free help from people out doing the Lord’s work.” She said that she didn’t, but her Mom did and we should follow her. It turned out that she had just been praying that morning that she could find help for her mom and that she had been out looking and couldn’t find anyone. All of the workers were booked up and couldn’t come because they were too busy, so we were her answer to prayer. The house ended up being mostly done but they needed help to finish removing drywall before the insurance adjusters came to do an inspection. They had to do that before she could get a settlement and she could start the rebuilding process. We finished that job up by 4:30 and then prayed with them too. The mother’s name was Lona and the daughter was Beverly. They were so grateful for us being their answer to prayer. It was such a cool day how we were being used and led by the Lord.

Lord continue to use us to do your will and to bless others. Please continue to send us on your divine appointments.